Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2001 18:30:25 -0700
Reply-To: Coby Smolens <cobys5@HOME.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Coby Smolens <cobys5@HOME.COM>
Subject: Re: just one drip
In-Reply-To: <20010822213149.RPDC21043.mta09.onebox.com@onebox.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
A few things: If it's a 1.9 (85 or older) it doesn't have an oil cooler. Use
a pencil beam flashlight, take your time and look very carefully for the
source of the leak. It may or may not be a hose. If the van has A/C, look
carefully under the compressor for traces of coolant from around a little
section of 1" hose between the thermostat housing nipple and the left-hand
cylinder head. Look at the area between the waterpump and the thermostat
housing - the gasket between these two pieces is a possible offender, too.
More likely, in fact, than the nuts holding the pump on. And, too, see below
for a little rap on hoses - applies equally to 1.9 or 2.1 or any other
numbers you'd care to mention.
(If it's a 2.1 (86 or newer) it does have an oil cooler, but it will almost
certainly NOT just drop right off. In our experience, nine times out of ten
the threaded pipe is extremely reluctant to leave its cozy home. There is
also a rather convoluted and contorted set of small hoses and pipes that are
attached to the cooler and bolted to other things in the area which make it
appear as though a mad plumber had had a particularly inspired day at work
when he assembled the stuff, and all of it is in the way of the cooler,
unless your threaded pipe thingy is unusually loose and can be removed)
If you find yourself needing to replace any of the hoses around the pump, do
yourself a favor and get ALL of them. Consider buying the kit from the Bus
Depot - it's incredibly inexpensive compared to the dealer - then use the
hoses from the kit to replace every one that has anything to do with the
area you're working on. You can save the rest for another day, if you have
to. In fact, my REAL recommendation is to replace all the hoses on the van
at the same time, and usually the big plastic pipes, too. It's not a quick
piece of work, but in the end it's quicker than having to drain, fill and
bleed the cooling system multiple times, as each successive hose fails,
which will be soon (geologically speaking) if the van has some amount of
mileage over 120K on it. There are a couple dozen individual hoses and pipes
that can pop, and they're all about the same age. If you have to pick and
choose due to time and/or financial constraints, go for the hoses and pipes
that connect to the engine first - they are subjected to the highest
temperature and greatest degree of oil contamination and so tend to be the
first to go. You should be prepared to replace all the gaskets and seals
involved in removal/installation of any parts.
There are good pictures of most of this stuff in the Bentley book. The ETKA
catalog (basically the dealer's microfiche on disk) has the parts listed,
but the cooling system pictures are, to be overly generous, difficult to
decipher. I can send pix from Bentley in .gif form if you want.
Good luck!
Coby Smolens
Valley Wagonworks
VW Bus and Vanagon Specialists
"Intimately acquainted with VW Vans since 1959"
1535 SF Drake Blvd, San Anselmo, CA 94960
415-457-5628
---- Jere Hawn <> wrote:
> That single drip will grow,. It's a fairly easy one to change if you
> change
> your oil at the same time.
>
> 1. Drain oil
> 2. Remove oil filter
> 3. Remove threaded pipe that holds filter on, should
> be about hand tight
> after you loosen the retaining nut
> 4. Oil cooler will drop right off
<<<snip>>>
> On Wed, 22 Aug 2001 14:02:33 -0500 Kim G <ppg1@HOTMAIL.COM> writes:
> Hi List,
> I read a post yesterday about a single drip of coolant off the end
> of the
> oil filter....
<<<snip>>>
| 
